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Nvidia gained a staggering $2 trillion in market value last year amid the market's continued frenzy for artificial intelligence, and yet, the stock may have even more room to climb amid a flurry of catalysts in the coming year, according to Wall Street forecasters.
Shares of the chip giant climbed 178% in 2024, making the company the third-best-performing stock in the S&P 500.
Despite its dizzying valuation, Wall Street is still feeling bullish on the AI chipmaker, with analysts rolling out steadily higher price targets on bets the firm can continue to grow.
The AI craze looks poised to continue this year, according to analysts at Wedbush Securities, creating another bullish backdrop for Nvidia.
"We have discussed the AI Revolution non-stop as in our opinion it represents the biggest tech transformation in over 40 years," analysts wrote in a note on Thursday. "Nvidia and Cloud Stalwarts remain the AI driving force."
Here's what Wall Street is expecting from the chipmaker in 2025.
Nvidia will continue to be the main attraction in the AI space, Wedbush said, ranking the firm at the top of its list of AI tech winners in 2025.
Analysts said AI spending was also expected to "ramp significantly" in the coming year, estimating the space could see another $2 trillion in capital expenditures over the next three years.
"The start of this $2 trillion+ of AI spending all began with the Godfather of AI Jensen and Nvidia as they remain the only game in town with their chips the new gold and oil," they said in a recent note.
"While there will be some white knuckle moments in 2025 along the way on the heels of Fed worries, China tariff poker game, and stretched valuation chorus moments...this will create the opportunities to own the tech theme and key names which has been our core investing tech playbook the last 2 years," they added in a separate note.
Investors will be buzzing about the success of Blackwell in 2025 — and if the launch of Nvidia's next-gen GPU goes well, it could overshadow away any concerns investors have about the demand for Nvidia's chips and competitors in the space, Morgan Stanley said.
""We have tended to be most enthusiastic on NVIDIA when the near-term data points appear mixed, but underlying dynamics are very strong. We think we are approaching that point now," the bank's analysts wrote in a note. "There are transitional pressures — but by 2h25 the only topic will be the strength of blackwell, in our view."
Blackwell has already generated a lot of hype from Nvidia bulls. Last year, the stock spiked after CEO Jensen Huang said demand for Blackwell was "insane," boosting expectations for earnings growth.
The bank reiterated its "overweight" rating on the stock and said Nvidia was its "top pick" going into next year. The strategists have a price target of $166 a share, implying 21% upside from current levels.
A stock boost could be coming for the chipmaker as soon as January, after Huang delivers his keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show, Citi analysts said in a note at the end of last year.
The Consumer Electronics Show will be held from January 7 to January 10. Huang's opening speech is scheduled for the evening of January 6. The speech will be followed by a Q&A session with analysts the next day.
Huang's address will likely lift expectations for Blackwell's sales, which could fuel a double-digit surge in Nvidia shares, according to Citi analyst Atif Malik.
"We… open a positive catalyst watch into CES Jan where we expect Blackwell sales expectations to move higher and management to talk about the inference led enterprise and robotics industrial demand inflection," Malik wrote.
In the note, the bank reiterated its "Buy" rating of the stock and raised its price target to $175 a share, implying 27% upside from current levels.
According to Bank of America strategists, demand for Blackwell could outweigh what Nvidia can produce for several quarters.
Demand for its Hopper GPU, meanwhile, could also stay buoyant.
"Expect stock to churn near-term as investors digest lack of 'sizzle' but we continue to like the stock on its 'substance'," BofA strategists said in a note late last year.
Lofty expectations for the stock could pose risks, though. Investors in recent quarters have been disappointed even as Nvidia handily beat earnings estimates but came up just short of the highest estimates. Post-earnings sell-offs have been seen for the stock in the last two quarter, though they've been short-lived.
"Bullish investor expectations have consistently been 10-20% above analyst consensus, restraining the element of surprise," strategists said.
The bank reiterated its "Buy" rating for the stock and $190 price target, implying another 39% upside.
